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You know, the one the Winnipeg Blue Bombers spent the off-season developing, and all of training camp and the first three games of the regular season implementing.

On one hand, the plan has worked: Pierce is still in one piece.

“He’s taken a few (hits),” head coach Tim Burke was saying, Tuesday. “But he’s much healthier now than he was last year at this time — well, last year at this time he wasn’t healthy at all. He’s probably the healthiest he’s been right now (in) the last two years.”

The only problem is the CFL doesn’t hand out points for keeping your quarterback out of the doctor’s office.

The Bombers are on pace for another 6-12 campaign, and while misery might love company, the fact the rest of the East Division is, too, is no cause for comfort.

As outlined in this space, Monday, Pierce has looked nothing like the quarterback of the previous eight years, the one who ran around, improvised and often took off with the ball.

That’s been by design.

The thinking, led by second-year offensive co-ordinator Gary Crowton, was to keep Pierce in the pocket, give him a quick-release offence and minimize the hits that all too often leave him on the trainer’s table.

You may as well try to pound a square peg into a round hole.

The strategy has basically neutered Pierce by taking away what he does best.

“That’s probably true,” Burke said. “And so we’re going to rectify that a little bit this week in our game plan. When he has done some positive things this year he’s extended plays with his feet.

“So you’ll see little bit more wide open Buck Pierce this week.”

Give Burke and Crowton credit for the willingness to adjust. Some coaches would stubbornly cling to their plan like a life raft that’s losing air, even as it sinks.

But the change in philosophy for Friday’s home date with the Toronto Argonauts only magnifies the flaw in the original plan.

Three games into the season, wearing the shackles of this new system, Pierce’s performance has been flatter than yesterday’s glass of cola.

His passing is below average, and he’s done almost nothing with his feet.

Meanwhile, other CFL quarterbacks are doing what most good CFL quarterbacks do.

The key play in Hamilton’s 25-20 win, Saturday, for instance, was a Henry Burris run for a late first down.

Montreal’s Anthony Calvillo has run more often than Pierce, for heaven’s sake.

But the moment the Bombers take the shackles off Pierce, the risk goes up.

With No. 4, you’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

“He’s going to have to be smart about taking hits,” Burke said. “He’s just going to have to get down on the ground when he needs to.”

Ask the quarterback about all this, and he remains the good company man.

“With what we’ve been calling and the style of some of our quick stuff, it doesn’t allow us to get outside the pocket,” Pierce said. “I’m for it, too — you don’t want to put me in situations where I’m out on the perimeter by myself. I want to improve my passing game and stay inside the pocket.”

But Pierce is not a pocket passer.

And it’s rare to see one thrive in three-down football.

“Obviously a strength is me moving around and me running,” Pierce acknowledged. “Hopefully we’ll see some more of that this week. It’s fair to say you want to use your players’ abilities.”

Time for Bombers to take shackles off and just let Buck Pierce be Buck Pierce

You know, the one the Winnipeg Blue Bombers spent the off-season developing, and all of training camp and the first three games of the regular season implementing.

On one hand, the plan has worked: Pierce is still in one piece.

“He’s taken a few (hits),” head coach Tim Burke was saying, Tuesday. “But he’s much healthier now than he was last year at this time — well, last year at this time he wasn’t healthy at all. He’s probably the healthiest he’s been right now (in) the last two years.”

The only problem is the CFL doesn’t hand out points for keeping your quarterback out of the doctor’s office.

The Bombers are on pace for another 6-12 campaign, and while misery might love company, the fact the rest of the East Division is, too, is no cause for comfort.

As outlined in this space, Monday, Pierce has looked nothing like the quarterback of the previous eight years, the one who ran around, impro